June 11, 2012 12:17am EDTJune 10, 2012 11:34am EDTWith the Celtics’ season now over, talk around whether the core of Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo will be broken up intensifies.

They raised a banner to the rafters of the TD Garden, but playing for an organization that already had 16 of them hanging, they knew they needed at least one more to truly be remembered as Boston Celtics greats. They were within minutes of doing just that in Game 7 of the 2010 Finals, but a knee injury to Kendrick Perkins wound up costing them. That wasn’t the only time health came down on Boston’s title chances—they were missing Kevin Garnett in ’09, and Shaquille O’Neal in ’11. But they felt they might have one more push left in this most improbable of seasons.

That’s why, as it ended, as the seconds ticked away in Saturday’s loss to the Miami Heat, there were such sullen faces, there was such gloom, and for certain, there were tears.

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Garnett and Ray Allen joined Paul Pierce in Boston five years ago, helped resurrect a wayward franchise and nudged Rajon Rondo into stardom. They won a title in their first year together, but have been unable to repeat the feat. It’s time to take a cold look at the future, and the future almost certainly involves a different cast of characters.

Pierce and Rondo will likely stay put, but Garnett and Allen are free agents. While Garnett has hinted at retirement, Allen says he would like to keep playing—but his persistent ankle injury, as well as the presence of Avery Bradley and (most likely) Jeff Green, make it improbable that he will continue in Boston.

After the Game 7 loss to the Heat, Celtics coach Doc Rivers had a hard time coming up with the words for what this group has done.

“I wish we could have had healthy runs,” Rivers said. “This team won a title. Got to another one, a Game 7, where they had a shot to win. Got to the Eastern Conference finals and one game away on the road. Banged up. So I don’t know—because of really Kevin’s injury (in '09), I don’t know if we could have gotten any more out of the group. I would have loved to have seen this team in this whole stretch where Kevin was injury free. But you don’t get do overs.”

It is not a foregone conclusion that the Celtics will break up the Pierce-Garnett-Allen trio. The addition of 27-year-old Brandon Bass turned out to be a positive, as did undrafted 26-year-old rookie Greg Stiemsma. With Bradley healthy and Green perhaps back, as well as Chris Wilcox (who left the team with a heart ailment) and two first-rounders in a deep draft, the Celtics can add some youth while keeping their Big Three intact, albeit with lesser roles.

After all, Garnett averaged 19.2 points and 10.4 rebounds in the postseason, dispelling any notion that he is washed up. Pierce struggled with his shooting in the playoffs, but led the team with 19.4 points in the regular season. Even with his ankle problem, Allen shot 45.3 percent on 3-pointers in the regular season. And Rondo’s ascension continued, as he led the league in assists (11.7) and raised his game in the playoffs (17.3 points, 11.9 assists, 6.7 rebounds).

The Celtics, remember, were scrambling to start the year, and were 15-17 at the All-Star break. “I think a lot of people forget how we started the season,” Allen said. “It was so helter skelter trying to put together a team. We went through a lot of adversity this year, losing Wilcox and losing Jeff Green. Under the circumstances, you know, we're proud of what we've accomplished. By no means do we think that it was a fluke. ...

“I don't know what Kevin's situation is. There's still a lot of basketball left in my legs. I know that for sure. So it's hard to say what can happen, what may happen. But the four of us know how to play basketball. We know how to win games.”

Maybe so. But Celtics president Danny Ainge was part of the Celtics’ great late-‘80s teams, and, when that group was starting to be dragged down by age and injuries, Boston did not make a move to replace them (Ainge, in fact, was the only one to be dealt). As a result, the ‘90s were something of a lost decade for the Celtics, easily the worst in franchise history. Ainge does not want to see that happen again.

Rivers understands that. But if he has his way, Game 7 will not be the last time he will have Allen, Pierce and Garnett together. “Obviously, we're all smart, at least you guys are,’ Rivers said. “I think we're going to wait and see what happens with free agency and all that stuff. I honest to gosh hadn't thought much about (the future), other than the draft, because I was in it. Other than that, I've given zero thought to the whole thing. Danny has talked to me a couple of times recently. I probably didn't hear much. We'll find that out later.

“I just want to stick with this group if it's a couple more days, a couple more weeks, or whatever. I just want to stick with them.”